This year’s Hanukkah has painfully echoed the origins of the Hanukkah itself.
The darkness Jews have faced since the time of the Syrian-Greeks has again revealed itself in our world. On December 14, 2025, the first night of Hanukkah, The Sydney Chabad Hanukkah massacre and the tragic shooting during a Jewish professor’s exam preparation session at Brown University, and other acts of antisemitic violence have shaken Jewish communities across the globe.
And yet, Hanukkah is not only a story of darkness. It is a story of light that refuses to disappear.
Once again, we have witnessed the resilience of the Jewish people and something else just as profound: moments when others stepped forward to help that light shine.
This Hanukkah, I want to name those people Guardians of the Light. Righteous individuals who, in moments of danger or moral testing chose to protect dignity, worship, and human life. They are not defined by faith or identity, but by choice. Like the oil in the Temple, their courage burns longer than reason would predict.
Over the past days, I’ve shared several reflections that explore both the darkness we are living through and the light that continues to emerge. I wanted to gather them here for this Hanukkah weekend.
Guardians of the Light: A meditation on modern-day righteous gentiles. Those who stand between violence and the vulnerable, helping light endure when it is most threatened.
Modern Montana Maccabees: The story of Billings, Montana, where a pastor and an entire town responded to antisemitism not with fear, but with paper menorahs, crayons, and moral courage.
Light Shines Through the Darkness: A return to the opening lines of Genesis—“Let there be light”—and a reflection on why moral clarity, not silence, is demanded in moments like this.
Remember the Rainbow That Remains
A reflection on the biblical rainbow—not as naïve optimism, but as covenant and responsibility—asking what remains after the storm and how remembrance becomes an act of faith.
Lighting the Menorah in the GCC: In recent years, something extraordinary has occurred. In the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, Hanukkah has been illuminated on skylines and in public spaces. To see the menorah lit in the GCC is to witness history bending. A shared beacon of peace, hope, and togetherness.
The Infinite Light of the Menorah Shines from the World’s Tallest Building: A reflection on the historic lighting of the menorah on the world’s tallest building in the UAE, transforming a global landmark into a symbol of Jewish visibility, dignity, and interfaith respect.
Infinite Light: How the Menorah Can Inspire Peace and Hope: In 2015, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain hosted a Hanukkah celebration and menorah lighting at the Royal Palace, an enduring symbol of recognition and coexistence.
Hanukkah does not promise that darkness will vanish. It promises that light is worth lighting anyway.
May we honor those who guard the light. May we multiply it where we can. And may we never underestimate the power of choosing light, especially when it would be easier to look away.
In closing, I wanted to share this beautiful Hanukkah song about the power of light A Symphony of Light
Chag Hanukkah Sameach
